Worthy of mention

Dee Smith looks back at the second full year of TP52 competition in Europe and at the fantastic success of Corinthian helmsman Peter de Ridder and the Mean Machine team

Peter de Ridder won the TP52 year in great style in Ibiza. After securing the MedCup Trophy his rock-solid Mean Machine squad kept rolling to win the final regatta by one point after winning the last two races of 2006.

There are a lot of reasons for their spectacular success. A great boat, fantastic crew and Peter giving his team 'no reason to lose'. Anything the boat needed, it was there, sails or gear. The package he put in place at the start of the year will become the model for years to come. Their boat was launched early enough. The team got together in NZL and started to work out the kinks. The sail programme was strong to begin with and just got stronger as the year went on. There was no lack of speed.

To get this result as a Corinthian driver in such an intense and professional fleet is even more incredible.

To read the remainder of this and many other articles, please purchase your copy of the December 2006 edition of Seahorse International Sailing available at selected newsstands or by calling: + 44 (0) 1590 671899 or by email at: info@seahorse.co.uk

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